MINSK AUTHORITIES LIQUIDATE KALYAKIN'S OPPOSITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 000903 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM BO SUBJECT: MINSK AUTHORITIES LIQUIDATE KALYAKIN'S OPPOSITION COMMUNIST PARTY REF: MINSK 764 Classified By: Charge Jonathan Moore for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Summary: On August 17, authorities liquidated the Minsk chapter of the Belarusian Party of Communists for alleged violations of "registration protocol" in 1999. The closure of the Minsk chapter would result in the de facto liquidation of the party -- headed by senior united opposition leader Kalyakin -- on a national level. The BPC is currently drafting a formal complaint/response. End Summary. (Short) Notice Given -------------- ¶2. (U) On August 17, the United Civic Party's website reported that the Minsk chapter of the Belarusian Party of Communists (BPC) received a notice of liquidation from the legal office of the Minsk City Executive Committee (gorispolkom). According to the gorispolkom, the BPC's Minsk chapter allegedly violated protocol in 1999 when registering its legal address. The BPC refuted the accusation, claiming that this "violation" from seven years ago had not once been brought to their attention and noted that the Minsk BPC chapter had successfully reregistered in 2005 in accordance with current Belarusian legislation. The BPC accused the gorispolkom of using current political party laws to judge actions that were legal in 1999. National Party Liquidation To Follow -------------- ¶3. (C) National BPC deputy Valeryy Uklyanov on August 18 confirmed to POLOFF the liquidation notice, but stressed that the situation was more serious. Uklyanov pointed out Belarus' current political party law that requires all national parties to have a legal party chapter in Minsk in order to be registered. If the Minsk BPC chapter were to close, it would mean a violation of Belarusian legislation and the default liquidation of the national BPC. ¶4. (C) Uklyanov said the BPC leadership is drafting a formal complaint to send to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) next week and is prepared to go to court if necessary. In a court trial, Uklyanov predicted the authorities could try to use two arguments to liquidate the BPC. First, after the August Ministry of Justice inspection of the BPC, authorities could try to claim the BPC has fewer than the necessary 1,000 members required by law for registration. Uklyanov told Poloff that they are prepared to counter this allegation with membership lists containing more than 1,000 names. (Note: BPC leader Sergey Kalyakin told Emboffs on July 20 the BPC could easily prove it had over 5,000 members (reftel). End note.) Therefore, Uklyanov predicted that the GOB would have to utilize the lack of a legal address as the second argument to liquidate the Minsk BPC chapter. (Note: The GOB's second argument also seems weak given that the GOB renewed the Minsk BPC's registration in 2005. End note.) Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) Kalyakin has long anticipated a frontal assault on his BPC, which began with a GOB initiated merger attempt between Kalyakin's party and the pro-government Communist Party of Belarus. The liquidation notice, however, came as a surprise and the politically motivated pretext is absurd. Nevertheless, it would not be out of character for the authorities to latch on to a minor technicality in order to harass and marginalize the opposition. Moore